


Overcorrection

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: 500 prompts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-21 01:51:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2450261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The course of the American Revolutionary War is about to be changed. Not for the best of reasons, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overcorrection

**Author's Note:**

> From a '500 prompts' meme. Prompt 482, from [Liadt](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Liadt/): 'Those who do not remember the past - The Monk'

"This is the place, you say?" the Duke of Wellington inquired. 

The Monk gave him an obsequious smile. "Exactly so, your Grace. The date is the third of January, seventeen hundred and seventy-seven. This is the road to Princeton, and George Washington's army is approaching from the Southeast." 

The Duke turned back to look at what, from the outside, appeared to be nothing more than a covered wagon. 

"Then we have no time to lose," he said. "Let the men come out." 

Orders were shouted, and, in double file, infantrymen began to march out of the back of the wagon — far more men than could possibly have fitted in such a small vehicle. Their uniforms were faded and patched, their red coats all colours from pink to brown, but the Brown Bess musket that each man carried was polished and oiled, and their bayonets glinted in the winter sun. 

As the last of the men emerged from the wagon, and their sergeants and officers formed them into a square surrounding the Duke, they were followed by a line of cavalrymen, each leading his horse. Behind them came more horses, each pair drawing a cannon. Finally, more redcoats brought up the rear. 

The Duke, who had been counting off the men as they formed up before him, now raised his voice. 

"The Fifty-First will proceed in skirmishing order in the direction of the stream," he shouted. "Just over that field is a sunken road: the Third and Forty-Eighth will take position there, facing south. Garston, station your artillery at the edge of that copse. And Ponsonby..." 

"Sir?" the commander of the cavalry asked. 

A note of weariness entered into the Duke's voice. "Just try not to get in everyone else's way." He turned back to the rest of his army. "If any man fails to do his duty, he will be flogged. Now let my orders be obeyed. Baaaah!" 

As the whistles and bugles sounded and the men marched off across the frozen ground, the Monk rubbed his hands and turned to his two companions. 

"There you are," he said. "Didn't I tell you it would be perfectly straightforward?" 

Nyssa gave him a dubious look. "I'm not an expert on Earth history, but surely this is going to change it?" 

"Oh, a minor adjustment," the Monk chuckled. "Nothing to worry about, I'm sure." 

"But suppose this Washington man gets killed?" 

"Well, he's a soldier. He knew the risks when he took the job." 

Nyssa shook her head sadly. "That isn't what I meant. Don't you agree, Tegan?" 

"What?" Tegan seemed startled out of her reverie. 

"Wouldn't it change history if General Washington got killed?" 

"Yeah. But he won't. If he loses he'll just retreat." She swallowed. "Anyway, there's no going back on it now." 

"Having second thoughts?" Nyssa asked. 

Tegan shook her head firmly. "No. We're going to beat those Coal Hill Cleverclogs if it's the last thing we do." 

The Monk patted her on the back. "Well said." 

"I still think you're overreacting," Nyssa said. "Just because you got the answer wrong in a pub quiz..." 

"Shut up!" Tegan snapped. 

"I know you said Wellington won at Princeton when the actual answer was Washington," Nyssa went on patiently. "But was it really necessary to change history just so you wouldn't be wrong?" 

The Monk beamed at her. "Young lady, that is the principle around which I have built my entire life." 

Nyssa looked around as the Duke's small but lethal army took up its positions. "That doesn't reassure me," she murmured.


End file.
